Trace of Magic (21 page)

I wasn’t actually angry at him. Or maybe I was a little bit. He hadn’t asked about Josh, after all. But more than anything, I needed to get away from this place. I felt like the walls were collapsing in on me.

Easy
, Cass said.
Don’t freak out.

Her voice only reminded me of Shana. I twisted out of Price’s grip and strode to the door.

“Riley, wait.”

“You wait,” I said unreasonably. “I’m leaving.”

“What is the matter with you?”

“I don’t know. Maybe the fact that your fiancée was just turned into a vegetable. Maybe the fact that whoever did that may be doing the same to Josh right now. Maybe it’s the fact that you work for people who not only could do the same thing, but probably would. Maybe it’s the fact that you know what those damned things are Josh found and you didn’t tell me.” Fury, frustration, and a certain level of hurt overwhelmed me. “Maybe it’s the fact that my mother was murdered and cops like you didn’t do a damned thing to find the killers. Tyet killers, I might add. Maybe it’s the fact that assholes like the Tyet kidnap kids and their mothers and no one but me ever rescues them!”

The words poured out of me, my voice rising. On some level I knew I was just mentally and emotionally exhausted and Price was a convenient target for my confusion and frustration. Having Cass in my brain had ignited a visceral fear that I was rapidly losing control of. In a word, I was a mess. A nuclear mess and rapidly melting down.

“You need a different shirt at least,” Price said, ignoring my hysterics, though his eyes glittered and his face was livid. “I don’t want you to end up with hypothermia. Stay here.”

“Better see if she’s got any aspirin, too. My head’s got a mariachi band inside it.”

He nodded and disappeared.

Riley?
Cass ventured.

Not now
, I said.
Please. Just—not now.

She subsided.

A minute later Price returned and handed me a purple sweater. I pulled off my jacket and fought with my bulletproof vest. He came to my rescue, loosening it and pulling it off my head.

I peeled off my sweat-soaked shirt and pulled the sweater over my head. It fit snugly and the turtleneck choked me, but it was better than what I had been wearing. My bra was still damp, but there wasn’t much I could do about that.

I slid the vest back on and tightened the straps without Price’s help. Good thing I didn’t need it, as he’d vanished. I knotted the wet shirt around my hips and slid my jacket on.

I found him in a little office area beyond the dining room. It contained a writing desk and a couple of uncomfortable-looking wingback chairs. Several of the desk drawers were open, and Price was rifling through stacks of papers.

“Find anything?”

“Not really.”

“Then let’s go,” I said.

I didn’t wait for him to turn around or answer.

“There’s aspirin by the sink in the kitchen.”

I stopped and downed several tablets and retrieved the tire iron. Price watched me, then followed me to the door. I reached for the handle and practically lunged into the hallway. I gasped. I hadn’t realized I’d been holding my breath. I hurried down to the elevator.

I’d just punched the DOWN button when something icy cold hit my neck.

“What the hell?” I jerked around, raising the tire iron without even thinking about it. I hadn’t paid much attention to the fact that taking the null wall down had destroyed the tab, but apparently Price had and decided to replace it. “Again?”

Before I could swing the iron, Price grabbed the hand holding it. I shoved against his chest with my other hand. I’d forgotten he was wearing the bulletproof vest. It was like hitting a house.

“Listen to me, Riley,” he said, and the elevator dinged. He gave an aggravated sigh and let go of me, pushing me inside. He punched the button for the garage, then stood blocking the door, arms crossed, feet set wide.

“Why should I listen to you exactly?” I rubbed the spot where he’d tabbed me. It still felt cold. “Come to think of it, I’ve finished my job for you. You wanted to find Nader, and you got the bonus of finding your fiancée or your mark or whatever the hell she was. That makes us even. Now take the fucking tab off and let me go.”

“Screw that.”

I didn’t even see him move. One minute he was four feet away and the next he’d picked me up and mashed me up against the wall. He overwhelmed me with his scent and touch and taste. I practically went blind as I opened my mouth to his kiss. It was desperate, like he wanted to claim me and win me over at the same time.

His arms wrapped my back like steel bands. My legs dangled a couple inches off the floor, and I clamped them around his hips. He made a delicious sound, raw and desperate. Heat jetted through me. In the back of my head where I wasn’t totally giving in to the moment, I wondered if it was real. It’s crazy how much I wanted it to be. I was so in over my head.

The bell chimed our arrival in the basement garage. Price lifted his head. He was panting, and his arms tightened on me. My lips felt swollen, and I had beard burn on my chin and cheeks. I licked my lips, and he sucked in a breath.

“We should go,” I rasped, letting my legs drop back down.

He didn’t let go at once. He rested his forehead on my shoulder, letting me slide down to stand on my feet.

“Price?” I relaxed my chokehold on his neck and pushed against his shoulders. “We can’t stay here.”

He lifted his head, and I was snared by the savagery of his gaze. I couldn’t look away.

“Riley, whatever you think you know, whatever happens, remember this—you can trust me. I won’t let you down.”

He didn’t give me a chance to ask him what he meant. He stepped back and picked up the tire iron from the floor and handed it to me. I didn’t remember dropping it. He grabbed my hand, and we made a beeline for exit.

Get out of sight as quick as you can. If you’re seen, they’ll wonder where you came from so suddenly.

I relayed Cass’s message. We jogged up the alley to the corner and turned away from the high-rise quickly getting out of sight. Price hauled me around another corner so that we couldn’t be seen from any of the windows.

That’s it. I’m out. I’ll be asleep for the next week. Good luck. And Riley, for what it’s worth, Price is a good guy. He doesn’t break promises.

Thanks for your help, Cass.

Grab hold of something. This is going to hurt. Sorry about that. Fast and quick will be better for both of us.

With that, she pulled out of my head. Thorns ripped at my mind. My vision hazed black. I grabbed my head and started to fall down. Price caught me. I made a whining sound as the ache in my head went nuclear. My thoughts whirled like confetti in my head.

I don’t remember the next few minutes very much. I threw up. That tasted great. Finally I started being able to string coherent thoughts together, and the pain in my head subsided faster than I thought it could. I was able to stand up on my own again.

I grabbed a handful of snow and tried to clean my mouth out. It didn’t work so well, but it was better than nothing.

After making sure I was going to live, Price grabbed my hand. He led me back to the snowmobile, which remained undiscovered. Thank goodness for small favors. I made him check to make sure that the artifacts were still in the seat compartment, and I opened myself up to the trace to check on Josh. He was still alive. I climbed on my seat and took a deep breath. Josh might be alive, but I had no idea where he was or how to rescue him.

“Josh is alive. What now?” I asked, certain Price had a plan. I was also pretty sure I was going to hate it, but at the moment, I was too tired to care.

“Touray is expecting me to turn you in before dark.” He glanced up at the heavy clouds.

Flakes of snow were starting to drift lazily through the air. We had maybe an hour until I was late for my own funeral. Not that I thought Touray was going to kill me, but it was a fate as bad as death. I was so tangled in that thought that I almost didn’t hear Price’s next words.

“Let’s get it done.”

I could only stare. “What?”

He grabbed my hands. “It’s the only play we have left. If anybody knows about Josh, it’s Gregg. I won’t let him hurt you. I promise.”

“You can’t promise that.” My voice was hoarse. “He’s not going to listen to you.”

“Yes, I can, and yes, he will. I have something he wants more than he’ll ever want you.”

“The artifacts?” I still didn’t know what exactly they were. Clearly Price knew a lot more on that front than I did. “What are they?”

He shook his head. “There’s no time to explain. He will want those. I won’t lie. But that’s not what he really wants.”

I frowned, trying to collect my scattered thought. “What is it?”

The corner of his mouth twisted in bitter smile. “Me. He’ll want me.”

I didn’t know how to react to that. Was he serious? “What do you mean? He already has you.”

Again that smile that wasn’t a smile. “Maybe I’m not as bought and paid for as you like to think I am. And for the record, I wasn’t a cop when your mother was murdered. Had I been, I’d have found her killers.”

I’d hurt him by doubting his professional integrity. Never mind that he really did work for the Tyet, he took pride in being a good cop. Which he was.

I rubbed my hands over my face, trying to sort through what he was telling me. “You’d trade my safety for . . . what? What does he want of you?”

“It’s not just you. It’s Josh, too. As for what he wants from me, let me worry about that.”

I shook my head. “No. I can’t let you do it.” Whatever
it
was.

“Nobody asked you.”

“You’re suggesting that you’ll sell your soul to Touray in exchange for my safety and information on Josh. How is that possibly not my business? What makes you think I’d ever let you trade yourself for me?” Fear ignited anger in my chest, lending my voice strength.

He gave me withering look. “We all choose what sacrifices to make. You’re putting yourself out there for your sister and Josh. Hell, you’ve been doing it for years for those kidnap victims, haven’t you? Maybe you’ve inspired me to leave behind my corrupt ways.”

“Price—” I started to protest.

“I’m done arguing,” he said, chopping one hand through the air between us. “All I need to know is if you trust me to get this done. Do you?”

Did I? I’d spent my whole life running from the Tyet. They were, without exception, evil and dangerous. Price was different. Though he was definitely dangerous, he wasn’t evil. He had a powerful sense of honor, duty, and even loyalty. Or course, he’d served in Touray’s organization for a long time, and apparently they were decently close. Could he turn off his honor, duty, and loyalty to Touray so easily? I believed he wanted to, at least right now. But when he was face-to-face with an old friend, a boss—could he say no?

I didn’t have a choice. I had the nuclear-option null in my pocket. A quarter that would shut down magic for fifty or sixty yards around me, at least. I’d bolstered it when I took down the null wall, so it might be a broader radius. It wouldn’t get me out of handcuffs, but the Tyet probably relied more on magic to imprison people. After all, locks could be picked and most tracers couldn’t make nulls powerful enough to escape. They’d probably assume I was no more than the hack I pretended to be, unless Price told his boss otherwise. Would he?

Not that any of it really mattered. I couldn’t think of any other way to get to Josh. At least not before he died, or before the haunters drove him insane, if they hadn’t done that already. I’d been avoiding thinking of that possibility. It didn’t bear thinking about. Stomach clenching, I nodded.

“You might try to look like you believe it,” he said mockingly.

“I’m trying.”

He looked like he wanted to say something else, but just nodded. “Fair enough. Let’s go.”

“What do we do after you show up with me in tow?”

Price climbed on the snowmobile in front of me. He twisted to look back at me. The black shadow of his beard hollowed out his cheeks and sharpened the edges of his jawline. “I don’t know,” he said in answer to my question.

“That’s comforting.”

“A lot depends on what Gregg knows. He might even be the one who took Josh.”

“Wouldn’t he have told you?”

He laughed dryly. “I told you, I’m not as bought and paid for as you’ve been thinking. He trusts me, but within limits.”

Price twisted away and started the engine, ending our conversation. He pulled out onto the street, but I hardly noticed the bite of the wind on my cheeks or the cold that teased my eyes to tears.

I had assumed that Josh had been taken by the same people Shana was working for. It seemed likely, because Josh had been poking into Shana’s bank system. But what if someone else had him? Someone interested in the artifacts and not the bank fraud? I wondered again what they could be. Was I a fool for taking them to Touray? Not that I could hide them. After all, Price wasn’t going to let me out of his sight.

Price had a point: going to Touray might finally get us answers. What I’d do with them if he didn’t let me go was a problem I had no solution for. I’d cross that bridge when it collapsed.

I tightened my hold on Price’s waist and leaned my forehead against his back. There was so much more going on than I understood. At the heart of it were those three magical trinkets Josh had stashed in his safe, along with the vial of blood. I wonder what he’d say if he knew I was about to hand-deliver them to one of the major players in the Tyet; one of the people whose names were written on the baggies. I’m betting whatever he said wouldn’t have been any too friendly.

“Then he should have told me what the hell was going on,” I muttered into the wind.